


pining and playbills

by afropogue



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Broadway, Canon Compliant, Crushes, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Post-Canon, background rina angst, ej and gina besties, theatre nerds, whipped E.J
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29321772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afropogue/pseuds/afropogue
Summary: e.j. has two tickets for a broadway show, which he was planning to attend with nini when they were dating, but that’s clearly out of the equation after their abrupt break-up. it’s been a couple months since then and e.j. has long gotten over nini, but now has his sights on another person: carlos rodriguez. he decides to make the use of those tickets and take him to see the musical instead- - this is a valentine’s day gift for rachael (@dandylane) so happy valentines day !! hope you like it bestie
Relationships: E.J. Caswell & Carlos Rodriguez, E.J. Caswell/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	pining and playbills

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dandylane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandylane/gifts).



East High’s rendition of High School The Musical: The Musical was a success.

Well — okay, it could’ve been a little better, with the constant pauses and inconsistent cast changes and what not, but other than that they put on a pretty solid show. 

E.J definitely didn’t expect the outcome to turn out so well. Especially because of all the drama that’s been weighing over their heads, and the tension circulating through the air during practices.

Initially, he had thought that joining the musical was a terrible decision. He enjoyed theatre, but the falling out and break-up with Nini put a downer on his spirits for a little while.

But, if he’s really being honest, he kind of predicted the eventual downfall of he and Nini’s relationship. He really liked Nini, and thought they had the potential for a lasting relationship — until he met her ex: Ricky Bowen.

He didn’t know exactly why they broke up, but he figured they left on bad terms judging by how Nini treated him on the first day of school. But the looks exchanged between the two of them during auditions didn’t go unnoticed by E.J. Even as early as then, he knew there was evidently still something there between the two of them.

Ultimately he felt threatened by Ricky; and him playing the love interest of Nini didnt help eradicate E.J’s uneasiness. His insecurities led him to stealing Nini’s phone, and ultimately breaking her trust. As a result, he lost his girlfriend and pieces of his dignity. He was overcome with shame, and overcome with the temptation to drop out of the musical to preserve the remaining pieces.

But one great thing about the musical was that it introduced him to a myriad of new people. People he didn’t even know existed until the first day of practice, people he never saw himself mingling with ever. Not out of disdain, but because he just didn’t run in their crowd. But E.J found that he had a lot in common with these people, and regretted not participating in previous East High productions.

He got over Nini fairly quickly, in about a week tops, which he found surprising given the fact that he was convinced he was in love with the girl for months.

Although the musical cost him Nini, he gained the greatest friends he could ever ask for.

One person in particular he’s very happy about meeting and becoming close to is Carlos Rodríguez.

After that day of rehearsal at Carlos’s uncle’s theatre, where they had that little bonding moment near the old popcorn machine, E.J developed a fondness for the other boy. Before that day, he had thought that the musical was the sole thin string connecting them, until he realized; they had more common than they thought.

They were both dedicated to the musical, no matter how many tribulations were thrown their way, and strived hard to gain approval of others. Carlos had to fill in for Miss Jenn for countless practices, and tried his hardest to manage a whole cast and crew on his own. E.J has always been a people-pleaser, and after reading the notes Miss Jenn wrote down for him, he saw that as motivation to ameliorate himself and prove his worth as an actor. This made E.J view Carlos in a different light, beyond just the musical’s quirky choreographer.

He and Carlos built a congenial acquaintanceship from then on. And E.J was satisfied with that status of their relationship; he didn’t think it would go further than that anyway. 

But then Carlos started talking to him more, including him in conversations and asking his input on certain aspects for the musical. It confused E.J a little at first, because — well — he was far from apt when it came to any parts of theatre that didn’t entail acting. But he was happy to help nonetheless.

After the musical ended, E.J assumed he and Carlos’s paths wouldn’t cross again until the spring musical arrived. He was pleasantly wrong.

Now it seemed like the other boy was everywhere. When E.J saw him in the hallway, his stomach would get these weird tingles, paired along with a quickened heartbeat that would ensue any time they made eye-contact. The little wave and smile Carlos would sent at him when they saw each other in the halls would be enough to make E.J’s day.

Carlos also started hanging out with Ashlynn more often, so the dancer was usually right beside her when Ashlynn approached E.J or vice versa. He also joined many of E.J and Ashlynn’s hang outs, so naturally he became closer with the boy.

It didn’t hit E.J until about a few weeks after the musical that _Damn I have a crush on this guy._

The revelation surprised E.J at first, because he never expected his affection for Carlos to go so far, but he couldn’t help it. The boy was just too cute and his personality was so fun, how could he not?

And E.J knows he’s not straight — has known ever since he watched the Titanic for the first time with Ashlynn at age 12 and couldn’t get Leonardo DiCaprio out of his head for a week straight. His sexuality has never really been a secret either, he just never felt the need to announce it.

He really does want to ask Carlos out, but there are two things standing in his way: fear of rejection and Sebastian Smith.

Even before E.J developed feelings for the Mexican boy, he noticed that Carlos and Seb seemed to be attached at the hip. After Carlos slow danced with Seb at Homecoming, E.J could see the two becoming closer. They never put an explicit label on their relationship, but E.J was sure they were seeing each other. He still even saw them talking in the hallways, giggling amongst each other about who-knows-what.

It stings, way more than E.J wants to admit, but they seem happy, and all E.J wants is for Carlos to be happy. He deserves all the happiness in the world.

Still, it’s hard to keep that mindset when he sees Seb touching Carlos, and all E.J wants to do is switch places with the farm boy, just so he can be that close to Carlos.

E.J watches Carlos from across the hallway as he talks to Seb (who E.J is blatantly pretending isn’t there), emphasizing whatever he’s talking about with vivid gestures. E.J knows he probably has a dumb, lovesick expression on his face, but he can’t be bothered to fix it.

“God E.J, you’re so gone for him.” Gina comments from beside him. He had been waiting for her to finish gathering her things from her locker.

His crush wasn’t a secret to Gina. He doesn’t think he could keep his crush a secret from her even if he tried. E.J had gotten closer to her after the musical. Since she started living with Ashlynn, he’s seen her more often, and eventually he’s come to consider her as a little sister. 

“Leave me alone.” E.J mumbles, tearing his eyes away from Carlos’s form to face his friend.

Gina just grins knowingly. “All of this pining could be resolved if you just asked him out.”

“Um do you not see Seb right there?” E.J asks, as if it’s not incredibly obvious that Carlos is taken.

“I mean, are they really dating? They could just be friends.” Gina suggests, shrugging.

E.J scoffs. “Yeah, friends who slow danced together at Homecoming and kiss each other’s cheeks.” 

“Some friendships are closer than others.” Gina says.

“Like you and Ricky’s?” E.J questions, raising an eyebrow. Gina has been avoiding the skater boy since the night of the musical, and has barely talked about him at all, which was a vast contrast from weeks prior to the musical when the two seemed to be getting closer. Way too close to be considered strictly platonic. But after Ricky got back with Nini, things changed between them, and now Gina doesn’t give him the time or day. E.J thinks Ricky deserves it, for leading his friend on like that only to get with his ex at the end.

Gina’s grin falters at the mention of Ricky, and E.J instantly feels like he struck a sensitive spot.

“Look, if you really wanna know if he’s single, then ask him.”

E.J grits his teeth. “Sorry Gina, I know Ricky-“

“-means nothing to me. Never has. We were only friends.” Gina claims, but the edge of bitterness in her tone indicates otherwise. E.J regrets bringing the other boy up.

“I-“

The slam of her locker cuts through E.J’s sentence. “Listen, the bell’s gonna ring soon. I’ll see you after class.” Gina says tersely, locking her locker before heading off to class.

E.J sighs. Him and his stupid mouth. He makes a move to follow her but the warning bell interrupts his plan. He’d have to make it up to the other girl somehow.

———

After the last bell, E.J is making his way to the entrance when he suddenly gets an alert on his phone. 

It’s an email.

E.J doesn’t really read the headline and blindly clicks on the notification, expecting it to be an email from one of his teachers or something.

His eyebrows widen in surprise to see that it’s from the Capitol Theatre.

_**Make sure you still have your tickets, because your show is coming up soon!! Can’t wait to see you there! ;)** _

E.J furrows his eyebrows in confusion at the email. What.....

He suddenly stops walking, realization dawning on his face. 

Oh shit.

How could he forget about the broadway show he spent hundreds of dollars on? 

He initially bought those tickets for Nini, and had intended on taking her to see “Mean Girls the Musical” as a gift, but he could never find the right time to tell her amidst all the drama with her and Ricky. And they broke up before the conflict was resolved, thus he never told her about the tickets. Then he got so preoccupied with the musical and redeeming himself that he had forgotten all about the tickets.

Well the tickets were refundable so he couldn’t return them, and giving them to Nini was definitely out of the question, so basically he had wasted all that money on tickets for no reason.

Wait, maybe this could be how he could make it up to Gina for getting her down earlier!

E.J continues his way out of the building, pushing open and entering through the double doors. He makes his way toward his car, already seeing Gina leaning against it, scrolling through her phone.

She looks up at the sound of his footsteps approaching, a prominent frown on his face. 

“What took you so long?”

“Sorry, got a little distracted.” E.J says, pointing the his car keys at the car and pressing the button to manually unlock it. Gina doesn’t comment, opening the door of the passenger side and slipping in. E.J opens his side of the door and slides into his seat as well.

E.J throws his bag in the backseat. Ashlynn wouldn’t be coming with them, since she was staying after school for one of her clubs.

“Hey, I’m really sorry for bringing up Ricky earlier. I forgot how much of a sensitive subject he is and I didn’t mean to bring you down.” E.J says apologizes, looking over at Gina. 

Gina glances up from where she was putting her backpack down between her legs. She doesn’t look angry, so he thinks that’s something.

She lets out a sigh. “It’s okay E.J, I wasn’t mad at you. It’s just that you’re right, Ricky and I did have something, even if he won’t admit it. And it still hurts a little to think about how he chose Nini over me.” she says, quietly but loud enough that E.J can hear.

E.J nods and rubs her shoulder comfortingly. Sometimes he wishes he could punch Ricky in the face for causing his friend so much pain.

“Gina, you’re awesome. Ricky is a coward and you deserve better.” E.J states. Gina gives him a small smile. “Thanks E.J.”

Suddenly E.J remembers the tickets. “I know something that will cheer you up. So I uh, bought a ticket to see Mean Girls the musical live but get this: I accidentally bought an extra ticket so....do you wanna go with me?”

Gina raises her eyebrows. “You accidentally bought an extra broadway ticket?”

“It happens!”

Gina still looks unconvinced, and E.J huffs. See? It was almost impossible to lie to her.

“Okay fine, I bought the tickets in advance back when Nini and I were dating and I was going to surprise her with them but you know....” E.J explains, trailing off. Gina hums, getting the hint.

“Oh yikes, that’s rough. When is the show?”

“This Saturday.”

Gina frowns. “Ah I can’t go. I’m flying out to visit my mom on Friday so I won’t be able to attend the show. Have you asked Ashlyn?”

E.J shakes his head. “No, but I’m pretty sure she’s going out of state for a trip for baking club this weekend.”

“How about one of your jock friends?”

“None of them are really into the theatre scene.” E.J sighs. Guess he wasted money on two tickets for nothing.

Suddenly Gina snaps her fingers, as if she just got an idea. A mischievous smile slowly forms on her face. “Oh! How about Carlos?”

E.J freezes at the mention of the other boy. His cheeks instantly heat up. “W-what about Carlos?”

Gina rolls her eyes. “Stop playing dumb, this is perfect! You can ask him to go with you, he loves Mean Girls. He’s mentioned the musical a few times, he’d love to go with you.” 

E.J purses his lips, leaning back against his seat. He somehow hadn’t thought about Carlos as an option, and even if he did, he probably wouldn’t have considered it for the sole fact that he was awkward as hell when it came to his crush.

“But wouldn’t it sound like....a date?” 

“I mean it would save you so much trouble if it was, but it doesn’t have to be a date. Just say you’re hanging out. You’d get to spend time with him either way.”

Gina has a point. Even if E.J was unsure of Carlos’s relationship status he could still ask him to go with him - - as a friend. Maybe asking Carlos wouldn’t be a bad idea.

E.J turns on the ignition of the car, finally starting it up for the first time since they entered the car. 

“Maybe I will.” 

———

The next day, E.J is back at school, arriving by the door of Carlos’s third period classroom as usual, just as the bell rings. He and Carlos always walk to free period together, since their homerooms are nearby. 

E.J’a third period teacher had let them out a minute before the bell rang, thus why he arrived at Carlos’s classroom so early.

Students bustle out of the classroom and disseminate into the crowding hallway. E.J steps back a little, making sure he doesn’t get in anyone’s way.

Carlos eventually appears through the string of students that exit the room, a bright smile forming on his face when he spots E.J right by the door. 

“Hey E.J!”

E.J can’t help but smile back. “Hey Carlos.”

They shift into their normal conversation and friendly banter, primarily prompted by Carlos. Usually E.J looks forward to their conversations and invests all his attention in them, but his mind is riddled with should i ask him about those tickets now?

“-rewatching the movie yesterday and I can’t believe I won’t be able to see it live! It’s so unfair, the one time a musical comes on tour to this dry-ass state I can’t go. Stupid, classist system.” Carlos rambles, scoffing.

E.J blinks. He really missed half of that whole rant. “Musical? Which musical?”

Carlos rolls his eyes. “Ugh E.J did you really tune out half of my rant? Fake friend.” Carlos tsks but it has no heat to it. “I was talking about Mean Girls the Musical.”

Mean Girls? _Well wasn’t that convenient, this is the perfect time for E.J to ask!_

E.J decides to take his chance. “Go with me?” he blurts out. He can feel his insides folding in on himself from cringe.

Carlos’s snaps over at him, eyes furrowed in confusion. “Huh?”

Nice going E.J Caswell. Real smooth.

E.J sheepishly scratches the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. “I-I mean it’s funny you mention Mean Girls, because I actually have a spare ticket to the musical and I was wondering if you’d wanna go with me?” E.J asks tentatively.

Carlos gapes at him. “You have tickets to see Mean Girls?!?! Since when?”

“Since a while ago, apparently. I forgot all about them until yesterday when I got an email on my phone reminding me.” E.J replies.

“How do you just forget you bought Broadway tickets? Aren’t they like hella expensive?” 

E.J groans. “Yes, yes I know, they just completely slipped my mind. So what do you say, wanna go with me? It’s this Saturday.” E.J says. He hopes Carlos doesn’t notice the faint shakiness in his voice. 

Carlos suddenly stops walking, and E.J is confused before he realizes they’ve reached Carlos’s homeroom.

The other boy is silent for a moment, a pondering expression on his face. 

“I mean if you’re busy then thats totally fine-“

“No!” Carlos abruptly interrupts, causing E.J’s eyes to widen a little in surprise. “I’m never busy for yo-Mean Girls. It’s just....are you sure you want to take me?” Carlos asks in a smaller voice, disbelief coloring his tone as if he doesn’t understand why E.J would ask him.

Now it’s E.J’s turn to look confused. “Of course. You’re one of my closest friends, why wouldn’t I want to go with you?” 

Carlos purses his lips, looking away for a second, and E.J thinks he’s gonna decline until the other boy nods affirmatively, his lips curving into a small smile. 

“Okay....well that sounds great! I’d love to go with you.” Carlos finally replies, beaming at the water polo player.

The nervous anticipation that has been buzzing throughout E.J’s body fades at that, and he almost sighs in relief right then and there. He said yes! E.J get a hold of yourself it’s not like you proposed marriage to him. 

The two boys just smile at each other a moment before Carlos averts his eyes. He clears his throat, jerking a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the classroom door behind him. “Well....I gotta get to class. This was a very fulfilling conversation. I’ll see you later.” Carlos says, clutching his books tighter to his chest.

E.J nods. “Oh, uh yeah of course. See you later.”

Carlos shoots him one last smile before turning to enter his homeroom. E.J turns away from the door and starts heading down the hallway in the direction of his classroom. And if anyone says they saw him do a little fist pump and sporting a dorky grin while walking down that hall, he’d deny it.

———

The rest of the week flies by, and soon enough Saturday hits. E.J parks his car in front of Carlos’s house at noon, at the time he had told Carlos he’d arrive. The theatre was a 2 hour drive, so they’d have to head early to avoid the ineluctable long lines.

E.J tilts down the rear view mirror, checking for any flaws in his appearance. Once he’s satisfied, he takes a deep breath. Why is he so nervous? They’re essentially just hanging out, nothing they haven’t done before. Except this time they were “hanging out” at a Broadway show, but same difference, right?

E.J shakes his head, hoping it’ll somehow shake out some of his jitters. Then he gets out of the car.

He makes his way to Carlos’s front door and rings the doorbell. It only occurs to him after he’s rung the bell that he could’ve just stayed in the car and texted Carlos to come out, but it’s too late for that—as the door promptly swings open. Mrs. Rodriguez is standing at the door, and when she sees him she smiles brightly, eyes widening as if she’s pleasantly surprised.

“E.J hello!” 

“Hi Mrs. Rodriguez.”

“You are here to pick up Carlos, yes?”

E.J nods. “Yes. Is he ready?”

“He better be. Come in, come in.” Mrs. Rodriguez says, gesturing for him to come in.

The Mexican woman patters over to the staircase, craning her neck upward toward the top. “CARLOS! Tu cita está aquí!”she yells, looking back at E.J with a pleased grin on her face. E.J doesn’t understand the last sentence but decides to just politely smile back.

“¿Qué? ¿Dijiste cita?” Carlos yells back from upstairs.

There’s some shuffling upstairs before the boy comes bustling down the steps. He stops at the lower end of the staircase when he spots E.J standing near the staircase, who is smiling sheepishly at him.

“E.J! Hey.” Carlos greets.

“Carlos! No me dijiste que ibas a salir con E.J! Finalmente, me gusta más que el granjero.” His mother says, lightly hitting her son on the arm before winking at E.J. E.J doesn’t understand what that means, but judging by her expression, he hopes it’s something positive. Suddenly he regrets taking French class instead of Spanish. 

He’s only met Mrs. Rodriguez two other times — the first time being the night after the musical and the second being a week ago when he picked up Ashlyn from a study session at Carlos’s house. The older woman seemed to really like him during both encounters, which didn’t really surprise E.J ; he just had that effect on parents.

“Mamá!” Carlos whines, glaring at his mother and looking a bit embarrassed. 

E.J turns to Carlos. “Uh.....” he starts, feeling a bit awkward, “Ready to go?”

Carlos nods. “Yeah.” He turns to his mother and gives her a peck on the cheek. “Bye mama.”

“Goodbye cariño, diviértete y recuerda, mantente a salvo!” Mrs. Rodriguez says to E.J, voice sounding a little more pointed as she not-so-subtly nods her head in E.J’s direction. 

“Mamá!” Carlos looks significantly more embarrassed and now E.J really wants to know what she said. Carlos grabs his arm and drags them toward the door. E.J waves a goodbye to Mrs. Rodriguez over his shoulder before Carlos leads them outside.

When the door is shut, Carlos sighs exasperatedly. “Sorry about my mom, she can be a bit...much.”

E.J shrugs. “Nah she’s cool. What did she say? You seemed pretty flustered back there.”

“She just uh....really likes you.” Carlos replies. By the tone of his voice it sounds like she had said more than that but E.J decides not to prod.

The drive to the theatre is filled with Carlos belting along to the Mean Girls soundtrack that he puts on with the aux cord. It’s very entertaining, plus E.J got to discover how nice Carlos’s singing voice was.

The drive doesn’t feel as long as it should be, probably due to the fact that E.J was constantly entertained by Carlos. The other boy was just a bundle of energy, who never seemed to run out of things to talk about, whether it was concerning Mean Girls or something else.

E.J manages to snatch a decent parking spot near the venue. He and Carlos exit the car, and only have to walk fifteen minutes to get to the ticket line. 

They wait in line behind a couple other people for a while, before they reach the ticket stand. Once their tickets are approved, they receive their playbills and make their way toward the inside of the theatre.

But before they try to find their seats, Carlos stops them, taking out his phone. “Wait, I need to take a picture of my playbill.”

Carlos snaps a picture of his playbill, which E.J does as well because who would he be if he didn’t showcase this wonderful experience to his thousands of followers.

E.J barely has time to pose when Carlos also pulls them in for a quick selfie, in which he just flashes his smile and does a peace sign. He tells Carlos to send him the picture. For memories of course, no other reason.

The show is; incredible for lack of better words. E.J has only ever been to one Broadway show; Hamilton during a trip to NYC with his parents, and it was outstanding too, but seeing Mean Girls live feels like a whole new experience.

Honestly E.J wasn’t sure about a musical adaption of a cult classic like Mean Girls, but it’s surprisingly executed well, and seeing it live is exciting.

He looks over at Carlos who lip syncs along to the songs, and can’t help but smile. Carlos is extremely invested in the show, face glowing with anticipation even in the dimmed lighting, and E.J doesn’t know if he’d rather watch the musical in front of them or Carlos’s face. He’d probably choose Carlos’s face, except he’d look like a creep. The last thing he wants to do is drive Carlos away.

———

“That was amazing!!” Carlos gushes as they exit the venue.

“Yeah, the show was pretty good.”

Carlos goes on a whole tangent about his favorite parts of the show, oddly exuberant and animated for someone who had been seated in a chair for almost three hours. Sometimes E.J wondered how he possessed all that energy. He’d have to ask him what his secret is one of these days.

E.J is staring at Carlos so much that he notices the other boy is shivering. He tries to keep it subtle, but E.J can see him visibly shaking.

“Dude why didn’t you bring a jacket?” he asks.

“All of my clean ones clashed with my outfit.”

“So you’d rather freeze than wear a jacket that happens to clash a little with your outfit?”

“Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for fashion.” Carlos states defensively, huffing.

E.J shakes his head fondly, chuckling slightly. Typical Carlos.

Without a second thought, E.J shrugs off his jacket, handing it to Carlos. “Here, wear mine.”

Carlos looks at the jacket in surprise. “W-what.”

E.J just nods his head toward the jacket as if to say, “take it.”

“But then you’ll be cold.” Carlos protests.

E.J waves it off. “Nah, I have thick skin. Once, we had to get out of the pool and stand outside during a fire drill. In our bathing suits—no towel.” 

Carlos shudders, although E.J can’t tell if it’s from the thought of standing outside half-naked in the cold or from the current cold.

“Just take it. I swear I’m fine, I barely feel a thing.” E.J reassures. He isn’t lying, the turtleneck he’s wearing is very thick.

Carlos peers at him with uncertainty, but once he realizes E.J won’t let up he finally takes the jacket with a sigh. Carlos tries to keep his expression of indignation but E.J catches the way he pulls the jacket tighter around him, snuggling into it. E.J tries not to swoon at how cute he is. 

“Hey E.J?”

“Yeah?”

“Is....is this a date?”

E.J freezes. “W-what?”

“I mean I wouldn’t mind if it was.” Carlos says nonchalantly, shrugging as if that’s the most casual statement to make.

“But what about Seb-“

“Seb? Oh we’re just friends. We tried the whole relationship thing after homecoming but it wasn’t working out so we decided to stay friends.” Carlos says casually.

E.J doesn’t really know what to say to that. He’s shamelessly relieved, of course, but Carlos may not share the same sentiment. 

“Oh...I’m sorry.”

Carlos purses his lips. “Don’t be. I like someone else.” he says coyly, giving E.J an unreadable expression.

“Oh really?” E.J raises his eyebrows. He suddenly feels more confident, less anxious. 

Carlos suddenly stops and turns to E.J. He steps closer, until he’s standing right in front of the taller boy. E.J feels his heart race at the close proximity. The Mexican boy is staring up at him, expectant look in his eyes.

A shiver trails down E.J’s spine. He leans down just as Carlos leans up to meets his lips in a kiss.

It’s soft and gentle, everything E.J has wanted for a while.

Both of them pull away, breathless and smiling.

He guesses those Broadway tickets weren’t a waste after all.


End file.
